Oct. 31 in Christian History

-451 - At the 15th Session of the Council of Chalcedon, Canon 28 was adopted, granting Constantinole a patriarchate extending over the civil dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace.

1517 - German Augustinian monk Martin Luther, 31, nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg a list of 95 theological points he wished to debate ... and touched off the Protestant Reformation!

1832 - American Episcopal scholar George Washington Doane, 33, was consecrated as second Bishop of the Diocese of NJ. Doane is better remembered today as author of the hymn, "Softly Now the Light of Day."

1852 - Swiss moral philosopher Henry F. Amiel wrote in his journal: 'Every landscape is, as it were, a state of the soul, and whoever penetrates into both is astonished to find how much likeness there is in each detail.'

1870 - Birth of Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Scottish theologian. Teaching systematics at Edinburgh 1904-35, Mackintosh had a firm grasp of the German theological writers of his day and sought to make their teachings known in Britain, for which he was unfairly judged a liberal.